You Don't Need Him
by ashinom123
Summary: Jazmine is slowly spiraling into a dark numbness from being mistreated, and Huey's not buying the whole "love" narrative. He may just be the one person to pull her out of this slump, and teach her how to help herself. (Jazmine/Huey. Friendship. Can be considered fluff, but not really? Rated T for language. References the episode The Block is Hot. Hope you like it! ONESHOT.)


_**A/N:** Hey, guys! Long time no fanfic. So, I got this idea from re-watching The Block is Hot and reading a lot of Fanfiction. I know I don't really write stories of the characters at ages older than like 12 or 13, so this delves into their slightly older teenage years (like 15-16ish? 17 tops). This is pretty new stuff for me so hopefully it came out okay. :) This is also my longest oneshot written to date. Huh. _

_I always thought it was interesting how Huey is always portrayed in fanfiction as super stoic (which he is) but also never know how to comfort Jazmine and always beats around the bush or loses his words or is super straightforward and mean-ish (even I had that impression of him). But, canonically, he straight up says "it's okay" to her in The Block is Hot, so I wanted to see what I could do with that since I love that side of him and such. ANYWAYS. So this took me a really long time to finally come to terms with and feel happy with in terms of language and details and such and it's still got some bugs and whatnot but let's see how it turns out and I should stop babbling now._

_Disclaimer: I don't own the Boondocks. It is owned by Sony Entertainment and Aaron McGruder (well idk if it is his anymore? how do you guys feel about that whole thing with him not returning with season 4? And do you guys like the new episodes? Leave a review or PM me, I love talking to you guys!)_

* * *

Her eyes.

Hey eyes had always been the crown jewel of her appearance. Everything about those emerald orbs that shimmered as the light hit them made everyone in Woodcrest melt at the sight. It was those dark peridot spheres that always expressed empathy for anyone in need, and joy at the smallest, most innocent things. It was those eyes that stared with intensity as you poured out your heart to her; that never shot a judgmental glance your way even when you confessed all of your darkest secrets.

And it was those same eyes with the dark bags sagging beneath the lower lids, irises now a dull olivine hue. Those were the same eyes that now darted away with every glance. Those same eyes that used to well up with tears at anything, because she was so full of emotion? Now dry and seemingly unblinking. Those big eyes that used to take up nearly half her face seemed sunken and small, hidden behind stringy pieces of curly, strawberry-blonde hair that fell free from her "afro puffs" as they bounced lifelessly behind her head in a ponytail.

"Stop that."

Huey raised an eyebrow at the sudden break of silence, his gaze never leaving his best friend's face. His arm, draped over a propped up knee with his other leg folded beneath it, was shaking slightly. He figured it was just from the breeze that blew every so often. Jazmine sighed.

"I said stop that." Huey didn't respond, just leaned closer to his favorite Fukushima tree's trunk and crossed his arms. Jazmine could practically feel Huey's stare burning through her skin, and she slid an inch farther from him on the grass, keeping her eyes trained on the sky. They hadn't spoken in hours, and Jazmine hadn't cracked... until now, that is. She just wanted him to stop looking at her like that, with that unfaltering stare that asked a thousand questions without uttering a sound.

"Huey…"

"Shut up." Jazmine's head nearly whipped around to look... no, to _glare_, at the owner of those sharp words, but she caught herself. She knew that just glancing his way would bring tears to her eyes, and she was done with that. She was done with _all_ of that. She felt her eyes narrow to slits as she continued piercing the clouds with her focused glare.

"Don't you dare, Huey Freeman. I'm not in the mood." Huey narrowed his own eyes at that comment, but it was more of him trying to figure her out rather than expressing aggravation or anger.

"Whatever." He looked away, finally yielding to her commands. Not because she wanted him to, but because he felt like he wasn't getting anywhere with this anyway. He clenched his jaw.

There was another bout of silence as a myriad of thoughts infiltrated both of their minds. Huey looked up at the clouds. Their milky, nebulous shape reminded him of Jazmine's hair, and how she had claimed that those condensed bundles of water vapor in the sky were so beautiful, but her own cranial clouds of amber were something to be ashamed of. His mind wandered to what she had become.

And he couldn't get the image of her slowly deteriorating features out of his head.

"You look like shit, by the way," he snapped, every word annunciated clearly so she can't play it off.

"Thanks, that's what every girl loves to hear," she retorted dryly, no evidence of any emotion in her voice. She simply stared at the sky.

"I'm telling you the truth." Huey returned his stare back to Jazmine's expressionless face and propped himself higher against the tree trunk. "You've been looking like shit ever since-"

"I swear to _god,_ Huey Freeman. Stop right there." There was a slight quake in her voice, so small no one would've noticed. That is, except for Huey. He felt his eyes widen; he was finally, slowly, getting somewhere here.

"No. You've gotten used to this asshole-"

"Stop." Her eyes squeezed shut.

"-this asshole that could give less of a shit whether you're dead or alive-"

"Huey…" A bitten lip. A fist clenched at the side. He was almost there.

"I mean, I didn't know you were that fucking desperate for someone to just _hold _you that you'd take any shithole for a boyfriend!" He was nearly yelling now, his whole body propped up on his knees.

"Stop it, Huey!" Her eyes were still closed, but she finally faced him, shouting in his face. She hugged her knees to her chest, with her face buried in her arms. She wasn't crying yet. She can't start crying now. She won't. She had worked so hard to get over those droplets of salty water. She had worked so hard to keep her eyes dry.

"You just want me to stop because you know it's true!" Huey was standing now, his hands starting to shake violently. "Grow the fuck up, Jazmine! He's not going to change for you or for any bi-"

Before he could finish, he was tackled to the ground by an outraged Jazmine DuBois, her fists pounding his chest as a stream of profanities flew from her mouth. Tears were streaming down her face, and even though Jazmine's small fists hammering down on his chest felt like an avalanche of pummeling pellets, his body filled up with relief. After a few more punches, she collapsed beside him, letting out loud sobs that shook her whole body.

The young Freeman boy laid flat on his back, feeling the blades of grass beneath him slowly tremble with the breeze before turning his head to face the bawling girl beside him. He watched her intently, waiting until her sobs turned into small sniffles with the occasional hiccup before speaking again.

"It's okay, Jazmine. You don't need him."

The dishevelled young woman stared at Huey, having a sudden shock of Deja Vu. Where had she heard those words, being uttered by this same gruff yet surprisingly empathetic (in his own weird way), nostalgia provoking voice before?

"_What the fuck?" Jazmine looked up from her crouched position to see an old crush looking down at her, his eyebrow raised in disgust. She stared at him with Bambi eyes, her confusion evident as she touched the skateboard laying beside her knees. "A pink, bedazzled skateboard? What are you, ten years old?" Jazmine pouted, and glanced at her most prized possession sheepishly. _

"_I thought it was pretty." She felt her eyes start to burn, and blinked the feeling away, knowing that her incessant tears _had _to be a burden to all of her friends. She had just started to go out with one of the boys from her geometry class, one of her old crushes, and she only wanted to make him happy. He wasn't a typical popular kid- actually, he was considered sort of nerdy- but was admired by girls over his "not-giving-a-fuck" attitude towards everything. And because he was a rich._

_Let's be real, gold digging bitches don't love you for your _personality.

_Jazmine liked him for a different reason though, and could already feel herself giving up a lot for him. The fact that he had even considered her to be girlfriend-worthy gave her butterflies like nothing else. For so long, she'd felt that her inability to have "beautiful" blonde hair and flawless skin made her so repulsive that no one would want her. And now, she had someone that thought she was pretty… no, he said beautiful once… and that was more than enough for her._

"_That shit is childish, Jazzy," he spat, rolling his eyes. "Get rid of it." He walked away without another word, leaving Jazmine to let go of one of her favorite material possessions. She stared at the sparkling skateboard in her hands. It almost described her perfectly, this one little object. Everything about it. She almost considered not listening to Keith for a moment, before realizing that he was the best thing to ever happen to her and that this stupid skateboard didn't mean anything in comparison. _

_Well, it couldn't._

_She walked out of the garage and spotted a seemingly uninterested Huey Freeman leaning against the brick wall surrounding the garage door with his arms folded across his chest. His gaze was trained on the ground. She flashed him a smile._

"_Hey, Huey." He didn't lift his head, only shot his eyes up to look at her face._

"_Jazzy?" He asked, skeptically raising an eyebrow. Jazmine rolled her eyes with a carefree laugh; that kind of bubbly sound that could light up a room and make your stomach turn._

"_It's his nickname for me. I think it's sweet."_

"_It's a dumb nickname if you ask me, Jazmine."_

"_You think everything's dumb, Huey Freeman." He shrugged. Couldn't argue with that. _

_Jazmine continued on her way across the freshly cut blades of grass swaying from her front lawn to the garbage can on the other side of her house, humming under her breath. _

"_Woah, woah. You're throwing that out?" Huey ran to catch up with her, his brow furrowed in confusion._

"_Yup," she chirped back, with a Jazmine-esque skip to her step. He cocked his head sideways._

"_But that thing was everything to you just a couple of days ago..."_

"_Yeah, well now it's not." Huey watched her for a moment before it clicked in his mind._

"_It's Keith, isn't it?"_

_She stopped in her tracks, her eyes avoiding his as she let out a forced, carefree laugh. "I have no idea what you're-"_

"_That's some old bullshit, Jazmine."_

"_Look, it's whatever," she replied indignantly, a childish stubbornness laced in her voice. "He doesn't want it so it has to go. It's not a big deal." Huey kept his eyes trained on her face, not bothering to respond. He watched as she hesitated, standing before the giant, grey bin blanketed in scum and grease with her fingers gripping the skateboard._

"_What you waiting for?" He asked, his arms crossed and eyebrows raised in skepticism. "Thought it was no big deal."_

"_I... It's not," she replied, swallowing thickly._

"_If you like it so much, then don't do it. He's not the boss of you."_

"_I don't care about it! I want to-"_

"_Then do it." _

_She hesitated for a second more, and then the image of Keith's face, those green irises matching hers with messy, straight brown hair falling just above his eyes, appeared in her mind, making the drop that much easier to do. Within seconds, it was at the bottom of the darkness inhabiting the bin, waiting for more junk to fill the void. _

"_There. See?" She spun around on her heel to face Huey with a proud smile. He seemed unimpressed, arms still crossed. _

"_Jazzy? That you?" Suddenly, Keith popped up behind them, walking from across the street where Huey's house was sitting. He planted a sloppy kiss on her lips before acknowledging Huey's presence. The latter boy gagged silently and sat on the grass as far away from the couple as possible._

"_Oh hey, Freeman," Keith said cooly, an arm wrapped around Jazmine's waist. She looked so damn happy enveloped in those stupid arms; it made Huey sick to the stomach. Not because he had any feelings for her in that way, no definitely not. 'That guy is just such a dick, though,' he thought. 'And she's so desperate for someone to give her compliments and shit that she would go for anything.' The whole thing made him want to vomit._

_He just might, actually._

"_I'm glad you're here," she said, laying a hand on his chest and gazing into his eyes. You could practically hear Huey saying, 'wow, she really fucking likes this douche.' "You bring something new to this neighborhood. I don't know how to explain it."_

_There was an arrogant twinkle in Keith's eye as he smiled back at her. _

"_Yeah, my family and I have a tendency to do that…"_

"_You mean like them urban neighborhoods you and your people gentrify to force poorer residents, usually of color, to get the fuck out like in New York City?"_

_Keith stared at him for a second, almost seeming innocently confused, but this kid wasn't an idiot. It almost would've been easier if Jazmine was dating the cliché bad boy or star quarterback. Instead, Keith narrowed his eyes at Huey._

"_This is the suburbs."_

"_Yeah, but I bet you have a summer Brownstone in Brooklyn, don't you?"_

_He opened his mouth to retaliate, but closed it immediately with his eyes narrowed. Jazmine's gaze flickered between the two before the tension between them became too much for her to handle. She cleared her throat._

"_Can I catch up with you later, Huey?" She flashed him one of her famous smiles, eyes glistening in the sun. Huey clenched his jaw._

"_Yeah, that's-"_

"_Oh, actually, Jazzy," Keith interrupted, "I hope you're not saying that cause you think you're hanging with me right now?" Jazmine looked up at him with a furrowed brow and innocent eyes which caused him to sigh. "Um, yeah actually I have some… stuff to do." Huey nearly laughed at that excuse, but held it back. "Just like shit for school, you know. Sorry, Jazz. I'll see you later, okay?"_

"_Okay," she replied, evidently trying to keep her voice from becoming a whine. "How about tonight?"_

"_Uh, not tonight," he replied quickly. "And not tomorrow. But I'll, uh… we'll talk. Bye, Jazzy." He gave her another kiss, this one evidently longer just to spite Huey (he was really close to running to that garbage bin and hurling, honestly). Keith ran off to the other side of the street, and Jazmine audibly sighed before sitting next to Huey on the grass, her chin resting on her knees._

"_We barely ever get to hang out," she muttered, fighting to keep tears from escaping her eyes. Especially in front of Huey. God knows how many times she's cried in front of him. "They're shitty excuses, too, to be honest," she muttered under her breath._

_A beat of silence passed over them._

"_It's okay, Jazmine," Huey said, leaning back on the palms of his hands, eyes trained on her. "You don't need him."_

_She straightened up and stared back. "What do you mean I don't need him?" _

_Huey raised an eyebrow. "Well, you're not gonna let him treat you like that, are you?"_

"_What, do you think love just grows on trees? You have to compromise in relationships."_

_Huey stared at her in disbelief. "Jazmine, what?"_

"_Or maybe I should just wait until I'm an old woman to begin falling in love. How would that look, Huey? A sixty-five year old woman dating for the first time."_

"_Jazmine, you're not making any sense."_

"_You have to make sacrifices for the people you love."_

"_And what do you know about love, Jazmine?" Her jaw dropped at the comment, spoken in such a nonchalantly calm yet tired tone. "You're just a fucking kid."_

"_More than you do!" She retorted, angrily. "All you know how to do is sulk and make people unhappy."_

"_Jazmine, he's a crook!" Huey could feel his patience running out. How could he make her see what a mistake she was making? "He's playing you. This isn't compromise, this is you being his personal bitch."_

"_Stop it, Huey!" Tears were starting to well up in her eyes. She couldn't help it. "You just want everyone to be miserable because you're miserable! I wish you'd just go away." Huey's eyes widened, his mouth opening to respond. He shut it before he could utter another word, a defeated look plastered on his face, and got up from his position on the grass. He glanced back at Jazmine with his eyebrows slightly furrowed in a worried, sympathetic glance before turning away, shaking his head with a scowl. He walked away with his hands shoved in his pockets._

"Jazmine." Huey shook the young girl from her curled up position on the ground. "Jazmine, did you hear me? I said you don't need him."

"You've said that before," she whispered. He stared at her for a second.

"Yeah, and you didn't listen."

"I'm sorry, Huey." She picked at a blade of grass beside her, plucking it from the ground and lightly tearing it into a few tiny fragments. He didn't say anything, just stared with a creased brow at his disheveled friend, rubbing the green pigment from her torn blade of grass between her fingers.

"Get up."

"Huh?" She rolled over to her side, her eye bags seeming darker than ever but her irises glistening with fresh tears. It was better than whatever emotionless zombie she had been for the past few weeks.

"Feeling sorry for yourself isn't going to get you anywhere. Get up, Jazmine."

"I can't."

"I said get _up_, Jazmine. You can do it."

She stumbled to get to her feet, the slight mascara that she wears starting to run down her cheeks. Huey watched her for a moment, taking in the caked on concealer that smudged under her right eye. He found it rather odd; Jazmine was never one to wear that much makeup, especially not in an uneven manner. He reached towards her, getting ready to walk her back to her house...

And then his eyes broadened to the size of golf balls.

He abruptly grabbed her by shoulders to pull her closer to him and stared at one of her eyes, his brow creasing even further than before. Those weren't just deep eyebags, and the leaking makeup definitely confirmed it.

"Jazmine…" Her own eyes widened, realizing what he had just seen.

"Huey, please, before you start jumping to conclu-"

"Jazmine." The eerie calmness to his tone frightened her more than if he was shouting straight in her face.

"Please let me explain…"

Huey's grip tightened, causing a shooting pain to fill her shoulders. "Did he hit you?"

"Huey…"

"Did that fucking dick hit you, Jazmine?!" She guessed this was a little better, but she automatically felt defensive.

"Leave me alone! I don't want your help, Huey. I can take care of myself!" Jazmine wriggled from out of his grip and inadvertently covered her black eye with her hand. His eyes quickly turned to slits before snorting in irritation.

"Obviously you _can't_ if you let him do that to you!"

"It's not like I didn't try to fight back!"

Huey stared at her for a moment, before an eyebrow shot up. That couldn't be right. Sure, Jazmine was kind of petite, but when she got angry she could do some serious damage. I mean, she had just knocked the wind out of him a few minutes ago. And Keith wasn't very big, in fact he was kind of scraggly, so how could he have gotten his hands on her long enough to give her a black eye if… _Wait._

"But you didn't, did you?"

Jazmine paused, her eyes trained on the ground as she bit the inside of her cheek. She seemed almost pained to say the next words, wincing slightly, as if she knew they weren't the right thing to say.

"I thought it was love…"

"What's fucking wrong with you? You wouldn't know love if it hit you in the face!" He paused for a minute when she cringed. "Oh, I didn't mean-"

"Look," Jazmine cut in, her voice becoming soft. "He was the only guy who looked my way. I was desperate-"

"Well, why are you so desperate, Jazmine?" Huey's voice was filled with tired exasperation as he threw up his hands. "Why do you need some guy telling you you're beautiful to feel that way? You need to learn how to be happy with yourself because at the end of the day all you fucking have is yourself and no one else. Ain't nobody gonna save you, Jazmine. You gotta save yourself."

She looked at him for a long time; nothing was said between them. She let her gaze flitter to the ground as one arm reached to grab the other in a half self-hug.

"You're right," she replied, biting her lip. "I have to save myself."

Huey's eyes softened. "And stop being such a damn pushover," he added in a quieter voice, though the firmness of his tone didn't falter. "Don't let people treat you that way. You let Wuncler do the same thing when we were ten."

"I was just a kid!" She replied, defensively while Huey rolled his eyes. "That doesn't cou-"

"Yeah, well you did it again, so check yourself." He got into a fighting stance, his legs widened and arms raised with palms facing outward. "Replicate what I'm doing."

Jazmine blinked at him. "What?"

"If he tries to touch you again, you need to be ready to fight back." He raised his eyebrow. "You _are_ going to fight back, right?"

"Yeah, yeah I am." She sounded hesitant, but she mimicked Huey's form. At least she wasn't being so damn stubborn anymore. Sometimes he forgot that quality about her. And sometimes he forgot how much it mirrored his own personality, in it's own strange way.

"Alright, I'll teach you some basic self defense and we'll go from there."

Jazmine nodded, starting to feel some confidence surge inside of her. She was tired of being treated like Keith's "personal bitch", as Huey called it. She was sick of feeling helpless and completely under the control of someone else. She was upset with losing herself and she wanted to gain her independence back.

But mostly, she missed being happy.

She missed laughing, and having a skip to her step. She missed that childish innocence emanating from her body, her aura always glowing and cheerful. She missed having a twinkle in her eye and a carefree giggle always ready to burst out. She wanted to go back to her old self, the person she was before Keith… but she still knew that some little part buried inside of her was tied to him. After all, when you wake up everyday to spend two hours trying to straighten your hair and change your appearance, crying because the other girls use your hair puffs as cheerleading pom-poms while they laugh in your face, you'd fall for anything that called you beautiful. But she was done with that. She wasn't sure she'd be able to get over Keith as fast as she wish she could, but she would eventually.

At least, she'd try.

"Hey, um, Huey?" She stopped circling around him in the fighting stance and straightened, biting the inside of her cheek. Huey stopped himself, cocking his head sideways.

"What?"

She ran up to him and threw her arms around his neck, squeezing with all her might.

"Thank you."

He tensed up at first, but then allowed one of his hands to rest itself on the small of her back. He didn't squeeze back, though, and they stood there for a moment, allowing the smell of dew-covered grass and leaves to envelope them in the comfortable silence. He inhaled her scent as well; it reminded him of beaches and wind and roses, all smells that never really struck him before but now felt ubiquitous as it wafted in the surrounding air, even when she pulled away. It still hung suspended in the atmosphere, encompassing him.

He went right back to his stance and glanced at her.

"So, let's start with this…"

* * *

_How does one do endings? I'm horrible at it. But, I hope you guys liked it! Lemme know what you think. :) I appreciate every single fave, follow, and review you guys give me. Thank you!_


End file.
